About Me

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

I love the concept of the Slingbox. Very cool technology. However, I have always felt that it was a technology in need of a problem.

When I discussed this with folks, the best (and really only reasonable) excuse we could come up with to own one of these was in the situation of a "displaced" fan of some form. Displaced fans in this context would be, for example, Red Sox fans living in Tempe, AZ or Twins fans in Miami. A particularly good example would be, say, a college student going to UNC from elsewhere or a traveling consultant.

To me, the issue is whether or not the "slingboxer" - the person watching the stream from the Slingbox - has already paid for that content. If they are a member of that household that has subscribed to cable, then its ok. If they are not a member of that household, then it seems like that house is "rebroadcasting" to me. So consultant away from home and college student - ok, distant relative that really loves the Florida Marlins - not ok. MLB has the ability on their site for them to purchase this content.